The present invention relates to a rod for supporting accumulated coins in a coin packaging machine of the type in which a predetermined number of coins, ordinarily fifty, are stacked and accumulated in columnar form, a packaging paper is wrapped around the peripheral side surface of the columnar assembly of accumulated coins, and both the upper and lower ends of the paper around the columnar assembly of the accumulated coins are folded and clamped to package the coins.
In conventional packaging machines of this type, a supporting rod comprises a pipe-like supporting cylinder for supporting accumulated coins from below and guiding them to a packaging zone from an accumulating cylinder, and a holding lever fitted and inserted into the supporting cylinder. When coins are supported from below, it is preferred to use a supporting cylinder having a large diameter approximately equal to the coin diameter in order to support the coins stably. However, when both ends of a packaging paper wrapped around the coins are folded and clamped in the packaging zone, the employment of a supporting cylinder having such a large diameter makes it impossible to move a clamping claw to the clamping position. Accordingly, at the packaging position in the conventional packaging machines the supportng cylinder is brought down so that the top end of the holding lever in the supporting cylinder bears against the lower face of the accumulated coin assembly for the holding lever to support the accumulated coins, the supporting cylinder alone is lowered further, and then the clamping claw is moved to the clamping position. In short, in the conventional coin packaging machine, coins are guided and held independently by two different members.
Accordingly, both the guiding and holding members and the members which operate them are structurally complicated.